Hedi Slimane: “It’s important to have a clear and distinct voice”

Through our series New Horizons, we’re taking you on a whirlwind—and impossibly stylish!—world tour. But don’t bother packing your passport. This odyssey is all thanks to the globally minded designers who simply refuse to see borders

In April 2016, Hedi Slimane revealed that, after a rollicking four-year tenure marked by his compulsive and convulsive rewriting of the house’s most revered codes, he was leaving Saint Laurent. Then, in January of this year, the news broke that Slimane was heading to Celine to replace the departed Phoebe Philo—another seismic jolt to the system, one amplified by the briefest of statements (Slimane has long been a man of few words but many actions) outlining that in addition to women’s collections there would also be, for the first time, a Celine collection for men, as well as haute couture in due course—or his version of it, at least.

Though these two events both occurred within 24 months, given the hyper speed at which everything turns these days you might as well count the time elapsed in light-years. The political and cultural metamorphoses—and all that reordering of hierarchies and taste and beauty—that have touched us all have left Slimane eager to return to the fray. “Current evolutions make me want to focus, commit and engage even more,” he says. “There is, besides, a really inspiring generation coming out.”

This is quintessential Slimane: a headlong rush into newness powered by the youthful energy fomenting in the world. “It’s quite liberating to see how new aesthetics can transcend preconceived ideas and conventions,” he adds. “It is important not to fall for generic or fake postures of progress, but rather to question a status quo, to have a clear and distinct voice.”

And what of Slimane’s voice, one of the most clear and distinctive out there: How has his time away altered its timbre? For one thing, Los Angeles, whose sonic and aesthetic landscapes helped shape his vision for Saint Laurent, is being reevaluated.

“There is clearly a change, a certain edge that feels disturbing,” he says of his adopted hometown. “I’m always attached to the idea of California, but recently less so to the city of Los Angeles. I don’t feel comfortable with the evolution over the last few years—too many people have moved in; we have seen entire neighbourhoods destroyed by speculation and developers. Something untouched, mysterious and magical has gone.” Instead, this serial nomad, who has also lived in Berlin and London, is gazing back to France. “Clearly, the political shift has changed the dynamics of the city and the country in general,” Slimane says. “It has definitely moved my focus toward Paris.”